A prosecutor has called for a man convicted of sexual offences against two young sisters to receive a deterrent sentence.

Locksley Cummings, 43, was found guilty by a Supreme Court jury in February of five charges, including multiple counts of sexual exploitation relating to incidents that took place between 2007 and 2021.

At a sentencing hearing on Wednesday, Cindy Clarke, the Director of Public Prosecutions, read a series of victim impact statements to the Supreme Court in which the young victims said that the incidents have had a lasting impact.

The younger of the victims said that she felt betrayed by Cummings, saying: “I know right from wrong, and I know what he was doing was wrong.”

She said that she felt anger, rage and frustration for years as she hid the abuse from those around her.

The elder victim said that she was for ever changed by what had happened to her.

She added: “I wish I could say I could let it go now, but this is the beginning of my healing.”

Their mother said that Cummings’s actions had been devastating for her family and that trusting him with her children was a mistake she would always regret.

“I know that God forgives, but quite frankly I’m not God,” she added.

The victims, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, said that they had been sexually touched by Cummings in separate incidents years apart.

The elder victim said that Cummings sexually touched her between 2007 and 2009 when she was eight or nine years old.

She specifically recalled an incident in which she alleged that he put her on his lap and touched her and attempted to have sex with her.

The victim said that in another incident she offered herself to the defendant to protect a young friend from his behaviour.

The second victim, the younger sister of the first victim, said that Cummings repeatedly had sex with her between 2016 and 2021 while she was still a child.

While the bulk of the incidents occurred at the defendant’s home, she also recalled an incident in the defendant’s car.

The victim told the court that the defendant had told her not to tell anyone about the incidents and that she kept quiet because she did not want to get the defendant in trouble.

Cummings denied the offences throughout the trial, suggesting through counsel that the allegations were sparked by a dispute with the mother of the victims.

Ms Clarke called for sentences ranging between ten and 17 years behind bars for offences carried out against the older sister, and sentences ranging from six to 20 years for offences against the younger sister.

She also argued that given the time between the offences, the court should consider having the sentences run consecutively to allow an even longer period behind bars.

Cummings declined an opportunity to speak on his sentencing but Charles Richardson, who represented him during his trial, said that he had already filed an appeal against his conviction.

Mr Richardson agreed that the courts could issue consecutive sentences, but urged the court to consider the principal of totality, stating that a sentence of 30 to 40 years would be absurd.

He suggested, given past precedents, that a sentence of about 12 years would not be inappropriate.

Puisne Judge Shade Subair-Williams reserved her judgment in the case, but is expected to deliver the sentence next week.

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